500 (Classic) Dexter the 1962 Fiat 500D

[Franko500]

Here are some more photos once it was home.

 

[Franko500]

Now for those who have seen my 500L restoration, you will know I am not afraid of a little rust.


Well here are some photos of what I have let myself in for.
And this is only what you can see on the surface. It gets worse!

 

[Franko500]

Once I got started it didn't take look to strip the car to reveal more rust.
The great thing with the D model is you can remove the roof.

 

[fiat500]

The great thing with the D model is you can remove the roof.

Does that make the bodyshell a bit more wobbly when stripped-down and rusty?

Does this mean that a big push is on on the welding front?

 

[Franko500]

Roof removal
Remove the sun roof and mechanism.
Remove the rear screen & 1/4 windows - cut the rubbers out so as not to chance breaking any glass.
Then there are 2 10mm nuts inside each roof rail, the washers all fall into the roof channel so don't know if I will see them again. Then undo the screws along the bottom of the rear air grille and then it comes off with a little leverage. The roof is rather rusty around the rear screen aperture and also on the 2 front corners. All of which can be repaired but the inner channel around the rear screen is going to be the difficult one.
Amazingly there is little rust if any on the roof rails now the roof is removed.

 

[Franko500]

I bet you are thinking that the shell must get a bit wobbly with all that metal removed?
Well not with my trusty jig that I built for the L.
It just so happens that the main suspension mounting points are all in the same place on both the D and the later F/L models.
With solid fixings on the centre rear suspension mounts and the front leaf spring mountings, this holds the floor pan in the correct position and prevents the shell from moving (too much)

 

[Franko500]

The right rear side suspension mount fitted once I slackened the retaining bolts slightly. But the left one clearly shows a problem. I could tell from looking at the rear seat floor panel that at some time the inner sills/floor had corroded so much that the floor had dropped including the suspension mount. About 1/2".Someone then plated all the inside to make it strong. Sadly they didn't jack the floor up first.
After closer examination, the floor and inner sills were so corroded they were not adding any support to the shell. So I have cut them out leaving just the outer panels in place so I can check the door alignment. Amazingly nothing seems to move with these removed thanks to my Jig holding the shell in place.

Once I removed the NS inner sill and all the additional plating, the rear floor became quite loose and with the trolley jack underneath it didn't take much to lift the left side until the bracket I made fitted nicely in place and the bolt just slid into its hole.

This means that the 4 key points in the rear are now all in the correct place, both height and distance apart. So knowing that the L lined up ok geometry wise, I have every confidence that this one will.
This also helped to improve the door gap as the shell had dropped about 1/4" at the B post.
I also removed the reinforcement plate on the rear floor & also the jacking point as these were heavily corroded and if removed this will allow better access for the sand blasting.
The new floor panels sit at the bottom of the bulkhead. This area is rather corroded so I thought it would be best to remove as much of the existing floor as possible to allow sandblasting on the area I need to keep/repair.
Its pointless leaving all the panels in place that are going to be removed later, all it does is prevent the panels behind from getting blasted.

 

[Franko500]

You cant expect a car that old not to have been in the odd little accident.
When I first saw the vehicle in England I straight away noticed some accident damage to the front and also to the right had rear.
So much so that the 1/4 panel was still buckled, the door gaps closed and also the right rear seat floor was damaged as was the inner rear wing.
But knowing the structure of these cars I wasn't put off. But scared the hell out of the guy I bought it from and knocked a few hundred pounds off the asking price.
Before I removed all the suspension and steering, I used a long trailer strap and various clamps etc and secured one end a solid post and the other end to various parts of the car. Then with a good push and shove managed to pull most of the damage out to remove some of the secondary damage.
After the front end damage someone left the bulkhead damaged and just welded a new front panel in place.
The rear was a little worse, they had given it a little tug and then filled it and fitted a new engine cover. Lucky enough it must have been some time ago as its the correct D model (yes they are different) and is in really good condition.
I removed the engine/exhaust panel and the outer 1/4 panel and then gave it another pull. The shell was getting a bit flimsy now as every time I pulled it more rust fell off and the weaker parts of the car started to move before the damaged area. So the rest was going to have to be repaired later.
The Engine/exhaust panel straightened up quite well considering. Which is great news as they are not available.

 

[the hobbler]

You are a braver, and much cleverer man than I am---I take my hat off to you and bow in supplication.

 

[Franko500]

So off to the blasters the shell goes.
Molly enjoyed her trip in my friends Mk1 Landrover.
The shell came back a lot cleaner than it went. A lot lighter and with a few more holes.

 

[Franko500]

The next step was to tackle the damage to the OSR 1/4 panel.
There was a lot of distortion to the inner 1/4 panel, rear inner wheel house and also the seat floor.
The only option was to cut the inner 1/4 panel off.
So first of all I had to remove another section of the outer 1/4 panel to expose all the inner 1/4 damage.
Then with this removed everything gets loose. The Jig holds the suspension mount points in place. The door gap changed as this was removed, but I only have to pull the panels with my hand and everything lines up again.
Next step was to use a porta power in the arch panel to expand it end to end and panel beat the damage to straighten it all out. Checking dimensions with the other side they now measure the same from front to back.
After that I repaired the front part where it meets the floor. I drilled out the spot welds to release it from the floor. This made it easier to repair the wheel house and the floor. Then weld them back together. the holes lined up perfectly again which assured me they were both straight again.
The rear bulkhead was easy to repair as it had a slight twist and a kink.
The most difficult part was to repair the inner 1/4 panel. This took quite a bit of panel beating to remove the damage. Where the panel had kinked, sometimes its easier to drill a hole through the kinked part as you can never totally straighten it. This releases the tension and once straight you just weld the hole.
There was a lot of trial and error fitting the panel back on with self tappers to make sure it all lined up again. Also needed to weld a new section in where the panel welds to the bulkhead as that got rather damaged when trying to remove it.
I took measurements from the bulkhead on the left to the rear x member mounting and made the OSR the same distance. Once everything was dressed up the bare metal got a coat of weld through primer and then welded the panel back on again, carefully lining up the inner roof rail and the panel between the B post and inner 1/4.
A quick grind up and its looking good.
Next step is to get a new rear x member, then trial fit the outer 1/4 panel and engine cover before welding it all back together.
The inner fillet panel and engine/exhaust panel can then be welded back in place. But first a 2 week holiday

 

[Bigvtwin996]

don' look too bad where it's not rusty...

 

[Bleeding Knuckles]

The standard of work is fantastic Sean, congratulations on saving Dexter. I don't mind working on gearboxes and engines, but tin work OOOOOer Mrs!!!! :worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:

Ian.

 

[Spike64]

Looking good my friend.
It’s not an N tho is it ��������

 

[Spike64]

Looking good Sean:worship:
It’s not an N tho is it

 

[Bigvtwin996]

Looking good Sean:worship:
It’s not an N tho is it

don't worry... I've got a lovely rusty N ready for him.....

 

[Franko500]

Its like a N but with the additional upgrades of a rear seat, ash tray, improved rear suspension, driveshafts etc.
Oh and a lot easier to find replacement parts.

 

[Spike64]

Its like a N but with the additional upgrades of a rear seat, ash tray, improved rear suspension, driveshafts etc.
Oh and a lot easier to find replacement parts.

Yeah and definitely a lot cheaper :bang::bang:

 

[Bigvtwin996]

Yeah and definitely a lot cheaper :bang::bang:

and almost as common as those F, L and Rs